Top in Fiction is the place where fiction lives, but it’s also the place where a community of fiction writers and readers come together every week to share in our mutual love (and respect) of fiction. Please read the guidelines as some things may have changed and check HERE for further explanation on these guides, if needed.
OPEN JANUARY 24 - JANUARY 25
Guidelines:
Only fiction shared between January 18th - January 24th on Substack!
This post will be open from NOW until 9pm EST on Saturday, January 25th.
Self-promotion of your fiction is welcome!
Use the TEMPLATE FOR RECOMMENDATION below when submitting a story.
Submit NO MORE THAN 2 stories! This is a strict rule that will be enforced.
TEMPLATE FOR RECOMMENDATION
Copy/Paste in the Comments Section. Anyone who does not use the template will be passed over for selection.
Story Title: Writer: [Name on Substack] Publication Name: [Substack Name Ex.: Erica Drayton Writes] Genre: [Choose 1 ONLY] Category: [Choose 1: Comic/Cartoon, Poetry, Micro/Flash Fiction, Short Story, Short Serial, or Serial] URL: [Must be a Substack URL] Extra: Tell us about your story in three sentences or less.
Look for the next TiF Weekly issue on Monday, January 27th! You never know what new gems you’ll discover. All we ask in return is that you share Top In Fiction to your email list and Restack the post on Monday in Substack Notes.
The time to share fiction LOUDLY AND PROUDLY is now!
Extra: Sleep, Dearie, Sleep is a historical epistolary horror in which the Enlightenment's modernity and reason are confounded by ancient, forgotten forces -- forces that demand their due as the price of progress.
Summary: The quest to please others at any cost will take its toll. There are those who ask much of creators…and the transaction is not always a symbiotic relationship.
Extra: A fictional AP-style news article details the arrest of three federal government officials who secretly assisted aliens in executing a deadly attack on the United States.
Extra: Part 1 of a Kentucky novelette about two bourbon heirs who'd rather serve tea and paint Civil War ghosts than follow the family playbook. A story of childhood friends, impossible choices, and the kind of love that makes you brave enough to be exactly who you are. New chapters every Saturday.
Extra: As the rain washes over the city, Lena reconciles loss, love, and resilience, discovering that New York doesn’t just hold stories—it shapes the storytellers.
Extra: Angela needs money. She owes Quint, a loan shark who keeps an actual shark to encourage payment. Joining a company that makes a remarkable cream that gives you a youthful face, she gets way in over her head when her boss Charlie winds up dead at her feet.
Extra: Jerome struggles with his new neighbors, who keep their TV at top volume 24/7. However, this conflict resurfaces painful memories of separation he does not expect.
Extra: An explorer from Earth is seeking Earth 2.0, landing on a candidate planet to evaluate. There, he must address the flora and fauna that may in fact be communicating with him in an existential way.
Note: Wild Times at the Ruby Slipper unfolds over decades in and around a honky tonk bar in Grainger, Texas. Three threads interweave— the rise and fall of a cosmic country band, the Wagoneers; the bandleaders’ second act, the Ruby Slipper, and the fallout when it’s forced to close; and an aspiring musician grappling with dreams deferred.
Extra: A 100-word microfiction story based on the prompt, "miracle." "Fireside Revival" tells the tale of a son who struggles to keep his ailing father alive in the dead of winter.
Extra: In the afterglow of Christmas, William's father returns and William sees the tantalizing possibility of a different life. New Year's Eve at the club brings further conversation with Jim Morris, Jr, and end-of-year revelations.
Extra: Niccólo follows a mostly silent talking donkey over mountains and plains to the shores of an inland sea. There he meets and gets to know the akephaloi, a race of people with no heads and whose faces Re on their backs. His new friends show him the value of interdependence.
Extra: After those who can afford the ticket abandon Earth to quakes and ash, a wandering mechanic finds the important parts of life on the wrong side of the moon.
Story Title: The way out
Writer: Ken Flyingheart
Publication Name: Echoes From the Well
Genre: Horror
Category: Short story
URL: https://kenflyingheart1.substack.com/p/the-way-out
Extra: A story about a man at the end of his rope. Gritty with a hint of noir.
Story Title: Sleep, Dearie, Sleep - Episode One
Writer: Jean Marie Bauhaus
Publication Name: Through a Glass, Darkly
Genre: Horror
Category: Short Serial
URL: https://jeanmariebauhaus.substack.com/p/sleep-dearie-sleep-episode-one
Extra: Sleep, Dearie, Sleep is a historical epistolary horror in which the Enlightenment's modernity and reason are confounded by ancient, forgotten forces -- forces that demand their due as the price of progress.
Story Title: Names
Writer: Bri Heron
Publication Name: Writing on a Whim
Genre: Thriller
Category: Short Serial
URL: https://briheron.substack.com/p/names
Extra: A man meets several women and describes his interactions with them.
Story Title: Infinite Ink
Writer: P.Q. Rubin
Publication Name: Prompting Culture
Genre: Sci-Fi maybe?
Category: Short Story
URL: https://promptingculture.substack.com/p/infinite-ink
Extra: In a world where stories are the fabric of reality, a magical typewriter is used to rewrite existence.
I'm not actually sure if you allow AI assisted writing. Please disregard if you don't. (I see guidelines being mentioned, I see no clickable link)
Story Title: Last Night
Writer: Daniel O'Donnell
Publication Name: Dans Deliberations
Genre: Horror
Category: Micro Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/danielodonnell/p/last-night?r=2bfxud&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Extra: Why nightmares aren't the worst thing to happen in the dark
Story Title: Dust-spectives 1: A Day In a Life in Ferina Toridor
Writer: Allura Shadley
Publication Name: The Dust Realm Narratives
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Short Story
URL: https://allurashadley.substack.com/p/dust-spectives-1
Extra: The account of a forest gnome and the mystery of her anguished heart.
Story Title: The End and the Beginning
Writer: Justin Deming
Publication Name: Along the Hudson
Genre: Speculative
Category: Flash Fiction
URL: https://alongthehudson.substack.com/p/the-end-and-the-beginning
Extra: The narrator experiences the world ending and its rebirth.
Title: Hunger Games, Re-Imagined
Writer: Tracy
Publication: wyrdplay
Genre: Horror
Category: poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wyrdplay/p/hunger-games-re-imagined?r=1m0hyj&utm_medium=ios
Summary: The quest to please others at any cost will take its toll. There are those who ask much of creators…and the transaction is not always a symbiotic relationship.
Story Title: Part 3
Writer: David Canning-England
Publication Name: David Canning-England
Genre: Horror
Category: Serial
URL: https://substack.com/@davidcanningengland/note/p-154567159?r=52djs3
Extra: This is part 3 of my horror/fantasy Serial. Catch part 2 in TIF honourable mentions 2 weeks ago!
Story Title: Day Twelve
Writer: John Coon
Publication Name: Strange New Worlds
Genre: Science Fiction
Category: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/newworlds/p/day-twelve
Extra: A fictional AP-style news article details the arrest of three federal government officials who secretly assisted aliens in executing a deadly attack on the United States.
Story Title: Anything for a Bonus
Writer: C.P. Night
Publication Name: C.P. Night’s Myriadu
Genre: Sci-fi
Category: Short story
URL: https://cpnight.substack.com/p/friday-funwrite-flea-market
Extra: Deep in an ancient space station a little Pegasus sings 😜.
Story Title: Shelbourne & Mattingly
Writer: Suzanne Boggs Feinstein
Publication Name: Patchwork Fiction: Southern Tales
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Category: Serial
URL: https://suzanneboggsfeinstein.substack.com/p/shelbourne-and-mattingly
Extra: Part 1 of a Kentucky novelette about two bourbon heirs who'd rather serve tea and paint Civil War ghosts than follow the family playbook. A story of childhood friends, impossible choices, and the kind of love that makes you brave enough to be exactly who you are. New chapters every Saturday.
Story Title: The map is not the terrain
Writer: Oscar Ruto
Publication Name: Oscar Ruto
Genre: Prose Poetry
Category: Poetry
URL:https://oscarruto.substack.com/p/the-map-is-not-the-terrain
Extra: Looking at loss.
Story: Unrelated
Writer: Oscar Ruto Chemelil
Publication Name: Oscar Ruto
Genre: Prose Poetry
Category: Poetry
URL:https://oscarruto.substack.com/p/unrelated?utm_source=activity_item
Extra: Addiction is...
Story Title: Rainspell
Writer: Michael Arturo
Publication Name: Michael Arturo
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Flash Fiction
URL: https://michaelarturo.substack.com/p/rainspell
Extra: As the rain washes over the city, Lena reconciles loss, love, and resilience, discovering that New York doesn’t just hold stories—it shapes the storytellers.
Story Title: The Hunt - A Turk Tompkins Travelogue
Writer: P.K. Anthony
Publication Name: P.K. Anthony
Genre: Comedy
Category: Short Story
URL: https://pkanthonypub.substack.com/p/the-hunt-a-turk-tompkins-travelogue?r=37581s
Extra: A light sci-fi comedy romp about hunting the most elusive game of all: Yourself
Story Title: BabyFace
Writer: Jude Klinger
Publication Name: Camera Tenebris
Genre: Noir Fiction
Category: Short Serial
URL: https://cameratenebris.substack.com/p/baby-face
Extra: Angela needs money. She owes Quint, a loan shark who keeps an actual shark to encourage payment. Joining a company that makes a remarkable cream that gives you a youthful face, she gets way in over her head when her boss Charlie winds up dead at her feet.
Story title: Pinko Commie Superbunker (part 2 of 7)
Writer: Evelyn K. Brunswick
Publication name: In A Different Place
Genre: Sci-Fi
Category: Short Serial
URL: https://inadifferentplace.substack.com/p/pinko-commie-superbunker-part-27?r=2s9hod
Extra: "It's kinda like a commie version of Elysium..."
Story Title: Through the Wall
Writer: Paul Imgrund
Publication Name: I've thought of an inciting incident for my book
Genre: Literary fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://paulimgrund.substack.com/p/through-the-wall?r=1tl7mn
Extra: Jerome struggles with his new neighbors, who keep their TV at top volume 24/7. However, this conflict resurfaces painful memories of separation he does not expect.
Story Title: The Origami Bomb
Writer: Mark Jarret
Publication Name: Tesserae Tales
Genre: Magical Realism
Category: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/mjporter850/p/9-the-origami-bomb?r=1ujboa&utm_medium=ios
Extra: The narrator voyages across their atlas of island rooms when they find a bomb sculpted by war.
Story Title: Night
Writer: Rolando Andrade
Publication Name: Outside The Therapy Room
Genre: Fiction
Category: Poetry
URL: https://rolandoandrade.substack.com/p/night
Extra: What it feels like when the night invades us
Story Title: The House
Writer: Rolando Andrade
Publication Name: Outside The Therapy Room
Genre: Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://rolandoandrade.substack.com/p/the-house
Story Title: The Very Last Story Ever
Writer: Gerard DiLeo
Publication Name: The FRICTION SECTION
Genre: Science Fiction
Category: Short Story, fable
URL: https://gmdileo.substack.com/p/the-very-last-story-ever
Extra: At the end of time, some thoughts come to mind. Whose mind?
Story Title: Fools Like Me
Writer: [Name on Substack] Gerard DiLeo
Publication Name: The FRICTION SECTION
Genre: Science Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://gmdileo.substack.com/p/fools-like-me
Extra: An explorer from Earth is seeking Earth 2.0, landing on a candidate planet to evaluate. There, he must address the flora and fauna that may in fact be communicating with him in an existential way.
Story Title: At the Crossroads
Writer: Maximilian P Siddell
Publication name: A Stream of Counsciousness
Genre: Literary
Category: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/mpsiddell/p/at-the-crossroads
Extra: Standing at the crossroads of eternity.
Title: Long Tie
Writer: Zackary San Martin
Publication: The Literary Ledger
Genre: Lit Fic
Category: Micro Fiction
URL: https://zackarysanmartin.substack.com?r=2ftl41&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
Extra: David, a man grappling with the weight of regret and the collapse of his marriage, spends a day in solitary silence and reflection.
Story Title: COUNTER-CLOCKWISE
Writer: JLG Noga
Publication: DARKLING
Genre: Crime, literary
Type: Short Story
URL: https://cantrainallthetime.substack.com/p/counter-clockwise
Note: Bonnie and Clyde for the 21st Century. An ode to our lost past and all the things we can never get back.
Story Title: A.M. Story
Writer: Rostislava Pankova-Karadjova
Publication Name: Airings
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/rostislava/p/am-story?r=zcxsb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Extra: Facing questions in the bright light of the morning after
Story Title: Wild Times at the Ruby Slipper (pt 1)
Writer: Chris DeWitt (Dork Mansion Dispatch)
Genre: Literary Fiction
Type: serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/dorkmansiondispatch/p/dispatch-19-wild-times-at-the-ruby?r=e4td0&utm_medium=ios
Note: Wild Times at the Ruby Slipper unfolds over decades in and around a honky tonk bar in Grainger, Texas. Three threads interweave— the rise and fall of a cosmic country band, the Wagoneers; the bandleaders’ second act, the Ruby Slipper, and the fallout when it’s forced to close; and an aspiring musician grappling with dreams deferred.
Story Title: Winter's Promise
Writer: W.B. Foley
Publication Name: W.B. Foley poems
Genre: Nature poem
Category: poetry
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wbfoley/p/winters-promise?r=4m5nh3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Extra:
Story Title: Daughter of Fire and Blood (2)
Writer: Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen
Publication: The KATacombs
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Serial
URL: https://katartstrophy.substack.com/p/daughter-of-fire-and-blood-2
Extra: Origin story of Lilith Morningstar. She is my precious D&D character that I have poured my heart into.
Story Title: Magical Times
Writer: W.B. Foley
Publication Name: W.B.'s Substack
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Flash Fiction
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/wbfoley/p/magical-times?r=4m5nh3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Extra: An interaction of a mild-mannered orderly with a secret to share with those at the end of their life and a regretful past.
Story Title: Heavenly Blue
Writer: Kerry Sutherland
Publication Name: Thinking in Capitals
Genre: science fantasy
Category: flash fiction
URL: https://thinkingincapitals.substack.com/p/heavenly-blue
Extra: These times, when we are alone together and the moon is visible, are the only ones during which I have the privacy to conjure the moonlets.
Story Title: The Burial of Abashar (Chapter 12)
Writer: A.M. Ward
Publication Name: Heaven and Earth: The Heshra Chronicles
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Serial
URL: https://byamward.substack.com/p/12-the-burial-of-abashar
Extra: A prophecy, a fragment of song, an unknown monster... and a sudden attack. Ancient mysteries will have to wait--now it's time to fight.
Story Title: Reverse Writing
Writer: Mark Jarret
Publication Name: Holles Street
Genre: Magical Realism
Category: Serial
URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/m402/p/reverse-writing?r=1ujboa&utm_medium=ios
Extra: A writer revisits a thread they discovered in Doha, a thread over a thousand years old.
Story Title: These Girls
Writer: C.S. Mee
Publication Name: The Deep
Genre: Literary Fiction
Category: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/@csmeewrites/p-155135221
Extra: Floating through life can feel really nice until you realize that you eventually have to hit the ground.
Story Title: Did I lose my chance to dance.
Writer: C.S. Mee
Publication Name: The Deep
Genre: Horror
Category: Short Story
URL: https://substack.com/@csmeewrites/p-155506327
Extra: Don't forget to live life for yourself because it is guaranteed that you will run out of time.
Story Title: Blackout
Writer: FranB
Publication: Tales at Twilight
Genre: Horror
Category: Short Story
URL: https://francesbrindle.substack.com/p/blackout
Extra: This creepy tale set in the second world war is based on a true story.
Story Title: Fireside Revival
Writer: Josh Louis
Publication Name: Your Path to Publication
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Micro/Flash Fiction
URL: https://jlouiscreative.substack.com/p/fireside-revival-microfiction-friday
Extra: A 100-word microfiction story based on the prompt, "miracle." "Fireside Revival" tells the tale of a son who struggles to keep his ailing father alive in the dead of winter.
Story Title: Black Pupil
Writer:Nancy Waddell
Publication Name: Nancy Waddell
Genre: Sci Fi
Category: Short Story
URL: https://nancywaddell.substack.com/p/black-pupil
Extra: Sandy has always felt different. Look into her eyes and you’ll see what she means.
Story Title: Why Teach? - chapter 14
Writer: Peter Shull
Publication Name: lower midlist
Genre: Literary
Category: Serial Fiction
URL: https://pshull.substack.com/p/why-teach-chapter-14
Extra: In the afterglow of Christmas, William's father returns and William sees the tantalizing possibility of a different life. New Year's Eve at the club brings further conversation with Jim Morris, Jr, and end-of-year revelations.
Story Title: A Woman Scorched
Writer: Jo Taylor
Publication Name: Characteristically Speaking
Genre: Humor
Category: Short Story
URL: https://jotaylorauthor.substack.com/p/a-woman-scorched
Extra: A wedding day gone wrong because of a groom and groomsmen treating it like any other day.
Story Title: Savta's Claws
Writer: Elie Lichtschein
Publication Name: Hebrew Horror
Genre: Horror
Category: Short Story
URL: https://hebrewhorror.substack.com/p/savtas-claws
Extra: A Christmas horror story about a girl visiting her grandmother and watching her engage in a secret bizarre ritual.
Story Title: Balls to the Wall
Writer: James Kenwood
Publication Name: Grim Acres
Genre: Sci-Fi
Category: Short Story
URL: https://jameskenwood.substack.com/p/balls-to-the-wall
Extra: A unlucky Marine on Mars has a close encounter with an alien fighting creature, and lives - barely - to tell the tale.
Story Title: Episode 4: Polly Wants a Cracker
Writer: Chris Lynch
Publication Name: The Amazing Adventures of Tortoise & Gecko
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Serial
URL: https://tortoiseandgecko.substack.com/p/episode-4
Extra:
The Beagle encounters the pirate ship Pegasus.
Story Title: The Bagel Shop Incident: A Baker’s Dozen Mob Writer: Irshaad
Publication Name: Frantic Writing Genre: Literary Category: Short story URL: https://open.substack.com/pub/unfinishedspeedwriting/p/the-bagel-shop-incident-a-bakers?r=2qufyf&utm_medium=ios Extra: if a Bagel Shop was run by a philosophical “soup Nazi” a la Seinfeld….
Story Title: The Raising Up of Niccólo (Part 2)
Writer: A. A. Kostas
Publication Name: Waymarkers
Genre: Magical Realism
Category: Short Serial
URL: https://waymarkers.substack.com/p/the-raising-up-of-niccolo-part-2
Extra: Niccólo follows a mostly silent talking donkey over mountains and plains to the shores of an inland sea. There he meets and gets to know the akephaloi, a race of people with no heads and whose faces Re on their backs. His new friends show him the value of interdependence.
Story Title: Lost
Writer: Sue Meredith Mann
Publication Name: On the Road to Jericho
Genre: Historical Fiction
Category: Serial (Installment #33)
URL: https://ontheroadtojericho.substack.com/p/33cairo-1996-lost
Extra: Brothers are separated…then reunited. Not all wounds heal as easily.
Story Title: Ceilidhs
Writer: Sue Meredith Mann
Publication Name: On the Road to Jericho
Genre: Historical Fiction
Category: Serial (Installment #32)
URL: https://ontheroadtojericho.substack.com/p/32-cairo-1996-ceilidhs
Extra: Blissfully unaware, Eleanor is swept into an impromptu ceilidh in Cairo. And defends her honor on the streets of Cairo.
Story Title: Wrong Side of the Moon
Writer: E.K. MacPherson
Publication Name: Ether Nothings
Genre: Cli-fi
Category: Short Story
URL: https://ekmacpherson.substack.com/p/wrong-side-of-the-moon
Extra: After those who can afford the ticket abandon Earth to quakes and ash, a wandering mechanic finds the important parts of life on the wrong side of the moon.